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Topic: To live in Vancouver, you need to make 41k/year to break even (Read 4692 times)

I have been living in Vancouver for 10 years and yes, if you want to live EXTRAVAGANTLY, these numbers are accurate.But what makes me so so SO angry is the notion that a young professional should be renting an "average apartment". What is this nonsense?Going out for three drinks six times a month? Spending ludicrous amounts of money on fitness when we have the seawall?My numbers are about half of what is quoted.

Yeah - we spend $1400-$1500/month for TWO people, living in downtown Vancouver waling distance from both our jobs (as well as everything else). $1700/month is a pretty darn fancy apartment, even here - $1000-$1200/month is more like a normal 1 bedroom place. Studios are more like $800-$900, going down to about $600 for REALLY tiny places.

You don't need any sort of transit pass if you live and work downtown, because you can walk or bike anywhere very easily. There are even separated bike lanes crisscrossing the entire downtown area.

When I lived in Vancouver in my pre-Mustachian days, I didn't even spend that much.

Rent was $1350 for two of us (so $675 each) for a one-bedroom in North Van, with AMAZING views. We didn't have a car, I think at the time the one-zone bus pass was $80 or 90. We both worked in North Van as well. Fitness was the Grouse Grind with work paying for my pass.

We probably ate out too much. Damn, I miss the cheap, good quality sushi in Vancouver!

That's the price of a (admittedly non-luxury) downtown apartment, but the transport cost is a 2 zone monthly pass to any of the surrounding cities where an apartment is half as much.

It's like saying that people need $41k/pa to live in New York, with an apartment on central park in Manhattan - well no s***

Yeah, they do the same thing for "living wage" numbers in the Boston area. Their prices for rent are consistent with renting a 1 bedroom apartment in or near the city. But then their transportation costs match those of a suburban rail pass and/or a car. Well, then the rent should be lower!

This forum is terrible- I keep wanting a live in SO to cut costs, rent being #1. :) Not really the best reason, haha.

You know, it makes a difference for sure, but I think a lot of people massively overestimate how much. If I were single my rent wouldn't be double what I pay now, because I wouldn't be in this apartment, I'd be somewhere much smaller (it would still be more, but maybe $100/month more). Food costs would be about the same, and my cell phone and bike maintenance and bus tickets would be exactly the same. Just some food for thought.

This forum is terrible- I keep wanting a live in SO to cut costs, rent being #1. :) Not really the best reason, haha.

You know, it makes a difference for sure, but I think a lot of people massively overestimate how much. If I were single my rent wouldn't be double what I pay now, because I wouldn't be in this apartment, I'd be somewhere much smaller (it would still be more, but maybe $100/month more). Food costs would be about the same, and my cell phone and bike maintenance and bus tickets would be exactly the same. Just some food for thought.

Unless you're renting a room from someone or have roommates, splitting a 1br apartment is likely substantially cheaper than renting a smaller one yourself. Electric/internet/etc is also roughly the same for two people vs one, if you are factoring in heat/AC - plus you have two incomes to work with. :)

Haha, the internet thing is so true. Last time internet wasn't included in my rent, I paid for the lowest possible internet package and used less than a quarter of it with what I considered moderate use.

The little tiny places I see for rent frequently seem to throw in internet with the rent. Both the tiny places and normal places tend to include electricity/utilities. So you don't save that much - the 1 bedroom place might be $800-$900 + internet, vs $500 including internet for the tiny place. So you do pay a little more, but not that much really.

Last time I heard anything about Vancouver rents, they were higher than San Francisco (where 100sqft will set you back $4k, I'm told). I'm honestly surprised that the figure is as low as $1700, including utilities even.

House prices are astronomical for the same reason as SF. But unlike SF the city has a policy of densification - building condo towers along transit lines so rents, for an apartment, aren't too bad.Salaries are half of those in SF though!

In my (admittedly short) room search, I had a hard time finding a room, not even a studio or 1 bedroom, for less than $700, while being less than 45 minutes on transit to Gastown. I know people who have rented a 2 bedroom condo for $1400 and thought it was an alright deal. Not sure if I just wasn't looking in the right places, but I have friends searching right now who would love to know where to find a $500 apartment that isn't in the heart of Downtown East side.